Convenience store owners helping raise money for state’s kids

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Have you bought a flower while filling your gas tank or grabbing a snack?

Fundraising efforts to benefit the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia continue at 500 convenience and grocery stores across the Mountain State.

Less than three weeks remain in the “Every Child Deserves a Loving Home” campaign from the West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocers Association.

“As you pass convenience stores and grocery stores throughout West Virginia, you will see a large pink flower in the windows or on the coolers throughout the stores,” explained Jan Vineyard, president of OMEGA.

“We are selling (those flowers) to promote Children’s Home Society which helps West Virginia children.”

The flowers are being sold for $1 from now through Mother’s Day. “It adds up,” said Vineyard.

Last year, OMEGA stores raised $93,000 for the Children’s Home Society which operates eleven homes in West Virginia and works with children in foster care or awaiting adoption.

Currently in West Virginia, she said there are 1,200 children who need adopted and 4,000 being cared for outside of their homes. “We’re trying to make a difference for West Virginia’s children,” she said.